Head To Head: 1969 Toyota 2000GT vs. 1965 Jaguar E-Type

Theme & Variation: The transistorized E-Type takes on the original

Carry a family of five on vacation; whisk two couples to dinner in suave sophistication; win Le Mans; haul an armoire home; make the owner look rich, famous, virile, savvy, eccentric--that's what cars are designed to do. But certain cars are challenged with more difficult missions: to demonstrate to the world their technological superiority and that their country is capable of running with the big dogs. Such was the mission of Toyota's svelte 2000GT.Toyota's first production model, the AA, took on the same challenge in 1936. Company founder Kiichiro Toyoda traveled the world seeking out the best design and manufacturing techniques and rolled them into the AA. Its aerodynamic styling and quasi-unitized construction were cribbed from the DeSoto Airflow. Its engine was the spitting image of Chevy's smooth and reliable stove-bolt six. War and reconstruction derailed the Japanese economy and its nascent auto industry, forcing all mainstream automakers to focus on small, high-value cars throughout the 1950s. By the early 1960s, Japan longed to break out of this rut.Nissan and Toyota each planned to offer a luxury GT. Nissan teamed with motorcycle and piano firm Yamaha to develop a car, codenamed A550X, styled by German-American Albrecht Goertz (whose design credits include the BMW 507). Friction between the companies doomed that project in late 1964. Toyota launched its project 280A in-house, with a design penned by Satoru Nozaki. But when the jilted Yamaha invited Toyota to see its finished A550X prototype, the two companies agreed to collaborate on the development and production of Nozaki's design.From the start, the Toyota project team had the sensational Jaguar E-Type in its cross hairs. That star of the 1961 Geneva show represented everything Toyota wanted its flagship to be. Jaguar's long-lived and well-regarded DOHC inline-six was race-proven, reliable, strong, and refined. The press gushed about the Jag's superior chassis performance afforded by its four-wheel independent suspension and four-wheel disc brakes. And, 40-plus years later, the world still remains agog at its sensuous shape.